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Culturally globalized
Neither languages, nor nations are pure. We together are inter-woven.
This is the second foundation for the contemporary globalization.
Anglicans are colonized in North America, Asia, Africa, Australia, and
Europe. Spanish, French, Portuguese-Dutch are colonized in South
America, North America, Africa, and Asia; linguistic Slav connectivity
with East Europe and Asia, Indo-European linguistic connectivity of
Asia, Europe, North and South America, and Africa are sheds of cultural
globalization.Read on Academia.edu

Pakistan at the crossroad of ideology
In 2013, Jammat-e-Islami Pakistan declared Mohammad Bin Qasim ‘First
Pakistani’. Later on in 2013, Pakistan Army Chief General Pervez Kiyani
while addressing the army men said that Mohammad Bin Qasim is the ‘First
Pakistani’. Apart from the dissents concerning historical and
contemporary narratives about Pakistan, it is established fact according
to the official record; the name of newly found country was ‘Pakistan’
in 1947. Pakistan was officially named Islamic Republic of Pakistan in
1973. Read on Academia.edu

Sindhi beyond the borders
Sindhi of all faiths and paths, reside in all continents. There are
Sindhi that are historically submerged in some nations, like in Kingdom
of Saudi Arabia, Sindhi who are now indigenized there with the tribe or
clan name Al-Sindi. Some Sindhi families are submerged in Java and
Sumatra islands; and some are submerged in Russia, living in Moscow
having combination of names and family names of Sindhi and Russian. Read on Academia.edu

Sindh and Balochistan: sociological polity
Sindhi and Baloch today have transformed into modern social and cohesive
entities, as they were historically however the linguistic, ethnic and
sub-cultural additions that were resulted by the Partition of British
India, (after the creation of Pakistan) initiated the process of
integration in the societies. Politics is patchy social process, imbibed
with the power; therefore state apparatus of Pakistan, like elsewhere
in the world today, has particularly determined the social
interdependence among and between the indigenous-aboriginal Sindhi and
Baloch as well as the migrants, refugees, and immigrants durring 1947
-2017. Read on Academia.edu

Colonial South Asia
After the dismemberment of Pakistan in 1971, and defeat in war with
India, Pakistan Army launched a military operation in Balochistan.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto neither gave orders for Balochistan operation, nor
did he tender suggestion for the military action in East Pakistan (now
Bangaldesh). It is, thus propagated by the military and security regime
of Pakistan that it was Bhutto who wanted military action in East
Pakistan. Read on Academia.edu

Pakistan Establishment
If briefed, Pakistan establishment has many layers of political and
strategic decision making, governing and coordinating within and between
Centre and the Provinces. For example President, Prime Minister,
Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, Chiefs of Army, Navy and Air
Force, Director General of ISI, and National Security Advisor (NSA) are
the core of height of establishment, constitutionally led by Prime
Minister in terms of governance and by President in terms of state which
also includes the decision of war making as well as use of nukes. Read on Academia.edu

Pakistan: Change of flags
Mohammad Ali Jinnah (M. A. Jinnah), joined hands of Mohan Das Karamchand
Gandhi (M.K. Gandhi) in the movement for the provincial autonomy in
united India during British Raj. Pakistan was realized formally as a
viable idea after 1945. The idea of Pakistan, in fact, is wrongly
associated with Dr. Alama Iqbal. Dr. Iqbal basically toed the concept of
amalgamation of united Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhuwa (then NWFP),
and Balochistan into one Muslim majority state within India. Read on Academia.edu

Pakistan: change of guards
Indus civilization ages seven thousand years. Pakistan is just seventy.
Sindh and Balochistan together are the core of the Indus civilization
that can be called Sindh civilization. Each brick of Maher Garh, a 5000
BC archeological site of Indus near the adorable Bolan hills of
Balochistan was sold out by Sardar Yar Mohaamad Rind to international
archeological mafia. Read on Academia.eduSindh-Balochistan: Participation in Pakistan military and security versus Asia's largest military concentration
Asia's largest military concentration is in Sindh and Balochistan by
Pakistan armed forces and services. If compared with the population
vis-a-vis vast terrain in Balochistan, the military-civilian ratio in
Balochistan, as well as in Sindh would be alarming.
Read in Merinews

Sindh-Balochistan: International Intrests
It was a great exchange of ideas and thoughts with Nepali journalist,
who just got free from his professional responsibilities of the media
coverage for Nepali Prime Minister's visit of India. Read in Merinews

United Nations, international law and rights of the peoplePeople, particularly the activists and persons of opinion who strive for
the right needs to review legislation, legality and practices on their
lands with reference to international law, which is also called
international human rights law. Some of the international instruments
are presented here with specific reading along with having some examples
from Sindh, Balochistan and Siraiki areas in Pakistan; India; Iraq; and
USA. ReadTransition for interdependence and unityNations, continents, and their interrelations are the world body politic
subsided by the culture. We need to have a leap beyond the faith in the
world-order of these steady withering away contours. We have an
international establishment in the form of United Nations; we were
unable to transfer it into the world establishment. We have been
attempting to translate the UN into virtual world establishment. Read on Academia.edu

China-Pakistan: What lays ahead for Sindh and rest of the world?Finally the nightmare has begun. As it was expected, the proposed
Chinese intervention in Sindh and Balochistan has greeted the people of
Balochistan and Sindh with the Pakistan Air Force bombardment in at
least seven districts of Balochistan and two districts of Sindh.
Read on Merinews

China-Pakistan axis: Beginning of a new cold warChina and Pakistan recently have signed over one hundred agreements
worth 64 billion USD in the field of infrastructure developments. These
projects are mainly connected with the development and operations of the
new and old seaports in Sindh and Balochistan as well as initiatives
that connect China with coastal strip of these provinces, and also with
Afghanistan bordering Khyber Pakhtunkhuwa (KP), India bordering Pakistan
Occupied Kashmir (PoK) and landlocked Pakistani Punjab.
Read on Merinews

New norms of
globalization

UK kicked off the formal process of a new era in
globalization. Brexit has been a public opinion on the way world is being
globalized. This opinion, sought through referendum, is from the country that
has a historical background of colonial diversity. Read in
daily Afghanistan Times

Co-option of Pakistan: A new China perspective

Pakistan has kicked off a new chapter in its strategic as
well as economic history, which essentially can be dubbed as Sinification of
Pakistan society and state. This would be first-ever initiative over seventy
years history of the country that Pakistan has decided a major and
futuristic shift in its strategic policy and planning. Read in
India Foundation Journal

Pakistan: Census amid ethno-national conflicts

Census is forthcoming in Pakistan
after over two-decade lapse. Census in Pakistan, unlike elsewhere, is the
core of not only economy and development, but also of the polity and
inter-provincial relationships. Read on Merinews

Wave
of new transition

The recent murder of
Indian origin techie Srinivas Kuchibhotla in the US is a violent expression and
kick start of what has been bickering up on the back-burners of our
contemporary times and history. Such socio-psychological developments that led
an American to kill young Srinivas have been rooted in the race and ethnicity
perspectives not only caused by the globalisation, but also by the changing
economic aspects of today's world. Read on
Merinews

Sindh
- sovereignty and will

Sindh has re-claimed its
sovereignty in twofold manifestations -- legislative, and through popular will.
Legislative sovereignty was reclaimed through Sindh Assembly's resolution for
formation of Sindh army or Sindh armed force. This happened during Pakistan
Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) central government in Pakistan during 1996-98. Meanwhile,
the popular will has been expressed in the movements in Sindh that also
includes Sindh Freedom March held in 2009, 2011 and 2014. Read on
Merinews

Making
of Modern Pakistan

Seventy years journey of Pakistan
after creation in 1947 is a dynamic history of social chemistry and
state-making process, which has odd and even manifestations. Founded on the
basis that Muslim majority states of Indian Subcontinent are a nation, Pakistan was
bound to become a moderate country and state. Read on
Merinews

World
politics, globalization and collective human responsibility

The world faces diverse
socio-political, economic and spiritual issues and problems. If this phenomena
of contemporary global disorder is interpreted philosophically, it is a
conflict of ‘structuralism’ versus ‘essentialism’ within the state, society,
and beyond. Read on
Descrier

The
New Neutral

when individual or
collective conflicts push politics into a blind alley, neutrality becomes key
to mediation and resolution. Mediation, in all its forms—cultural, individual,
collective or judicial—requires neutrality. If seen through the lens of
diplomatic history among nations and the cultural history of people, neutrality
embodied with justice has not only been successful in bringing about peace but
also sustaining it. Hence, the diversified nature of conflicts, inter- as well
as intra-state, ethnic and group require the exhibition of extreme neutrality
for a judicious and sustainable resolution of the antagonism that is destined
to lead all of us towards collective destruction. Read in
daily Kathmandu Post, Nepal

Pakistan is unpredictable. The two
decades long world engagement with Pakistan for the essential reforms
in the state-field, society and economy has failed to give results. There is no
full stop to the religious extremism as well as its export, anti-democratic
moves and extreme centralization of the federal governance. Read on
Academia.edu

Issues
of security and stability in Asia and Europe
are interdependent. Given the continual rise of new conflicts from Asia-Pacific
to the Atlantic, these issues and conflicts
need to be addressed through a fundamentally new approach to security.Read on
Academia.edu

On Thursday, the Scottish
people will decide their political future, after an agreement between Westminster and Edinburgh
for a referendum on succession from the union. This moment in history offers
and important for the UK
to also consider its obligations towards democracy in its previous colonies. Read in
Descrier, UK

' I realized if we wore Sindhi cap, we
would be killed'

It was the summer of 1987.
I was in Kalhora colony, Hyderabad
at my uncles' place during school vacations. One morning when I got up and went
to buy milk from the dairy of Chacha Deenu Soomro Shikarpuri, I found blood on
the wooden gate of my uncle's house. There was a printed note on the door fixed
with glue – Jeay Muhajir. Read on
Merinews

Relief under water

It was in 2010 that a
great flood in South Asia inundated plains and valleys on both sides of the Indus River.
We took initiatives to give maximum relief to the population hit by the
disaster in the Sindh and Balochistan provinces in Pakistan, which was our
intervention area as civil society actors. On our request, Kanak Mani Dixit
together with the South Asian Trust based in Nepal
established the Indus Flood Relief Fund in Kathmandu.
We were also supported by other South Asians as well as by the American Jewish
World Service. Read in
daily Kathmandu Post

Why does Sindh want freedom?

Majority of Sindhis want
freedom of Sindh from Pakistan.
I myself am a Sindh freedom believer, although I was a civil and political
rights activist and journalist in Pakistan, and now an analyst and
writer. Five millions gathered in Karachi
on March 23, 2014 to demand international community's intervention for the
freedom of Sindh. Read on
Merinews

In a recent meeting
between President Asraf Ghani and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Afghanistan and Pakistan have reached over an
understanding on the security cooperation, capacity building and mutual trade.
This unexpected development exclusively includes the training of Afghan
National Army by Pakistan Army. Read on
Russian Council on International Affairs

A stone that has to get out of the age

Things change a lot.
Permanence of the statuesque is beyond possibility. At least, Sindh is
changing; if not Pakistan.
Much has been discussed about the fall and gradually decline of Pakistan;
however we have to watch calculatedly the every step of its decline. Read on
Russian Council on International Affairs

Dangerous means

world politics since World
War II has one highly common manifestation. The world powers since last century
have turned conflicts into wars and transformed wars into proxy violence in
bids to attain their legitimate or illegitimate interests. If the cold war
strategies, the post-Cold War interests games, the post-9/11 situation and the
recent Islamic State (ISIS) phenomena are reviewed deeply, it becomes crystal
clear that the various powers have almost re-phrased the same old strategic
modi operandi in the respective regions of the world. Read in daily
Kathmandu Post

Making of Twenty First
Century State

States and wars are an
outcome of each other. A state has justified legitimacy over the use of
violence to maintain peace and order in a justice oriented manner for the
healthy regulation of socio-economic activities. Read in
Merinews

Forbidden Questions

Humans have forgotten so
many things. They have forgotten to ask fundamental questions to reach at
priori and a priori realities. Sometimes these questions are forbidden, but
mostly they find no way for expression because together, we have virtually
banned logical thinking. These questions number in the millions but we can only
highlight a few. Read in
daily Kathmandu Post

International Politics of Middle Path

Geographical irritants
like highly distant location from the rest of the countries, value based
interests and historical setbacks are the factors behind the re-writing and re-defining
the international relations, and thereby diplomacy of Japan, Australia
and Sweden.
Read on
Acadmia.edu

Militarization of Pakistan
Parliament

The damage is done
finally. The Parliament and the electoral parties have axed themselves by
undertaking legislation on the nefarious bill for establishing military courts
across Pakistan.
And, in the wink of eye, the Pakistan Army started establishing military courts
in Sindh, despite the fact that the religious terrorism is almost non-existent
there. Read in Merinews

A world of Sufism

The world is currently
undergoing ‘global anarchy’. Human society is witnessing diversified and
multiple forms of chaos in the context of human as well as development
insecurity. This phenomena has resulted from the knotty and unsustainable means
of strategic manifolds adopted and implemented in the conflict arena during and
after the Cold War, especially in today’s transitional period of a
multi-polarised global balance of power. Read in
daily Kathmandu Post, Nepal

Politics of dissent and neutrality

Neither dissent,
nor the anti-dissent has changed their historical yin-yang
process. This, an ever green social-dynamic is as old as the history of human
consciousness itself is. It is only the difference of time (age, era and epoch)
and circumstances (socio-political ecology) that has changed the nature
of dissent and manifestation of anti-dissent mostly in the form
of state-offense / oppression against the dissenting citizens and the people. Read in
Truthout, USA

A culture of state

Is it because of a
diversity of interests, thoughts and wisdom that the world today is becoming
such a knotty patchwork? Yes, it is an issue of disorientation in
decision-making at the state, society and world levels. Read details in daily The Kathmandu Post

A full stop to the 20th century

It was neither the end nor
the beginning. It was just a calendar-adjustment globally to the tune of the
21st century. Nevertheless, the inception of the new century some fifteen years
ago ought to have left a deep socio-psychological impression on everyone. The
global citizenry yearning for change wanted socio-political and eco-economic
transformations in the real-time history of their own living generation. Have
we really inched ahead, and tried to unbutton the change waiting to be? Not
yet! Then, rest assured that the time has come to dig at the microcosm of a
time-bound demand for this unavoidable discourse. Read details in daily The Kathmandu Post

Realities behind the Pakistani
'Revolution'

Islamabad drama would sooner or later reach climax or the
anti-climax. The script writer of the sit-in drama probably has been changing
the script according to the tide. Read in Merinews

Don't trap Sindh!

The time has come for
Sindhi, especially Sindhi in Diaspora, to seriously opt for taking the formal
case of Sindh in the United Nations on the basis of historical treaties signed
between sovereign country of Sindh and the Britain
before Britain's
invasion of Sindh as well as crimes committed by the State of Pakistan and its
ethno-communal mercenaries against Sindhi. This has become necessary especially
after the recent blackmailing attempts by the sate-cronies. Read on Merinews

A Tale of Strategic Talbanization

The recent military
campaign 'Zarb-e-Azb' by Pakistan Army in Afghanistan
bordering tribal areas against Taliban, Al-Qaida and
their Pakistani, Central Asian and Arab fugitive recruits continues to occupy
news and analysis. Like previous ones, this recent military campaign was of no
significant result, thus compelling the United States to drone
strategically important "Punjabi Talban Headquarters" on July 19. Due
to the changing complexion of religiosity and terrorism in Pakistan, a review of the military move is
needed in the perspective of Talibanization in Southern
Pakistan. Read on Truthout, USA

Vernacular Media under Siege in Pakistan

Pakistan is a virtual hell for the free, neutral, bold and
intellectually sound media-associated persons and journalists, especially the
associates of vernacular Sindhi and Baloch media. Dozens of media-associated
persons and opinion makers are victimized or killed by the military,
Inter-Service-Intelligence (ISI) and Military Intelligence (MI) as well as
their supported urban or religious terrorists. Given the exclusive
Punjabization of almost every civil and military institution of Pakistan, there
has been no single quotable case of the murder and/or brutalization of a
Punjabi journalist from 1947 to 2013. Saleem Shahzad and Najam Sethi were
exceptions because Shahzad touched the forbidden tree - the evidence of the
nexus between Islamist terrorists and the garrison city Rawalpindi,
and Najam Sethi held secular views and opposed the Punjabi military
establishment of Pakistan.
(However, today, he is also closely linked with the military establishment
unlike his wonderful past). Read in Truthout, USA

Decolonising development

The politics of
international development has never asserted its hitherto potential role to
address changes in development paradigms, rights regimes and social movements
in internally colonised countries across the globe. Pakistan, in this regard, could be
the first-ever model for this kind of a new initiative. Read in Daily The Kathmandu Post

Why Pakistan
Is Not Changing

"Change" and
"Pakistan"
are the words of significant disconnect for Pakistanis and the world outside.
The world outside has many illusions about Pakistan. The federation of the Indus civilizations' muslim majority states is merely 70
years old, but houses a contemporary history of global geo-political
engagements and is the epicenter of terror and violence in the name of Islam.
It's also a hot spot for ethnic chauvinism that runs through the tectonic
plates of the iron-clad military headquarters at Rawalpindi. Read in Truthout, USA

Colonised internally

The boom of socialist
politics in the global order between 1950-1970s, the Cold War episode that
played out in Afghanistan during the 1980s and the ‘war on terror’ during the
2000s have been instrumental in state development, social progress, economic
growth and the political narrative of Southasia. These global conflicts for
power and resources have always been an external factor behind the gap in
between states and societies. Read in daily The Kathmandu Post

Of state and society

Human society has two
inherent permanent features and tendencies—the emergence of social-waves and
the process of structuralisation in those social-waves. This opposition is a
chain of causalities, containing the manifestation of dynamics in the political
economy and social progress, as well as their retrogression and social
stagnation. No phenomenon of social movements around the globe, particularly in
the previous colonies, is an exception to this dialectic of mass expression. Read in The Kathmandu Post

Why Crimea will resonate beyond Europe

Crimea’s recent referendum
on joining Russia
has opened up a broader debate about sovereignty, political legitimacy and
realpolitik in the modern world. Read on Russia Direct

An Afghanistan
endgame climax

What can be a climax of Afghanistan
endgame? Inching towards stability or an anti-climax—one brow the fears, which
are widely reported from this ill-fated land and the victim of most of the
conflicting global interests of our times. Read article in daily Afghanistan Times

Ethnicity and urbanisation

The transformation of South Asia from feudal and rural relations into the urban
has enormous development contours along with highly sensitive challenges of its
ethno-political stability and governance. Therefore, any discourse focusing
cities in South Asia cannot avoid the issues
and relation between demography, governance, and ethnic stability. Read article in The Kathmandu Post

Pakistan:
Politics of fallacies

External perceptions of
Pakistani politics and society are often fallacious. The analysis, policies,
and decisions based on these perceptions, assumptions, and myths regarding Pakistan in the
outer world are therefore often fruitless. Read article on The Descrier, UK

Pakistan: What
Does the Future Hold?

Pakistan is at a crossroads. Its fragmented internal and
external political situation is gradually inching towards chaos. The country is
facing secessionist movements in the Balochistan and Sindh provinces; religious
terrorism in Punjab, the Tribal Areas, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province;
war on its Afghan border; continued discontent with neighbouring India; disagreements with the US; and a distancing from Saudi Arabia.
The key to understanding these current crises is in the understanding of state
building and statecraft. Read article on The Descrier, UK

The centre cannot hold

Federations around the
world have adapted political systems to the foundations of their
socio-political and cultural realities so that proclamations of identity, the
trickling down of the fruits of governance to the grassroots level and the
unfurling of even patterns of development based on parity become a tangible
reality. Read article on THe Kathmandu Post

Roots of Sindhi-Hindu Exodus from Pakistan

The morning of August 10,
2012 carried news of exodus of Hindus from Pakistan. Immigration authorities
detained 250 families having valid documents and visas at Wagah-Atari border of
India and Pakistan near Lahore. Read on Claws

Afghanistan's Future

The "first world war
on Afghanistan" began
in 1979 and concluded in 1991, resulting in a decisive defeat of the
then-Soviet Union. If seen in the context of
people's history, almost 2.802 billion people suffered the direct, indirect and
post-direct burns of the Afghan drama in Afghanistan,
Pakistan, Iran, China,
Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan
and India and later on, post
9/11, in the United States, UK and European
Union. If the war and war-related expenditure by the international community in
Afghanistan
is roughly calculated, it would probably exceed $10 trillion. Read article on Truthout, USA

Towards one Southasia

Pakistani Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif, like ex-president Asif Ali Zardari, has recently tuned up the
good old mantra of a visa-free India-Pakistan. However, the nature of
geopolitical relations between these two countries alone is the major hurdle to
a visa-free regime in the region. Given the fact that visa arrangements and
norms between the rest of the Southasian countries are almost on the verge of
border-free regional entities, it is speculated that a visa-and-border-free
Southasia can only be realised, unlike the European Union, through a gradual
visa-and-border regime change. Read in The Kathmandu Post

Federalism in Pakistan & Movement for
self-determination in Sindh

Pakistan is at a crossroads, its federal structure severely
threatened by provincial independence movements fueled by ethnic tensions,
structural political failures and the allocation of tax revenues. Pakistan is on
the brink again after 1971. Intensive decade-long secessionist warfare is
underway in Balochistan, and a mass movement, accompanied by low-scale
insurgency, has arisen in Sindh, which cast the shadow of popular uprising in
March 2012, when hundreds of thousands took to the streets in the provincial
capital Karachi,
demanding independence for Sindh. Read article on Truthout, USA

Personal reflection: Politics of development and
civil society of Pakistan

Politics of development
and particularly international development is highly complex structure of
studies; however when it is attempted to understand in a very naïve way, it
becomes easiest for the common understanding. Being associated with the human
rights, journalism and development sector during my career time in Pakistan, I
have a few simple readings, observations, feelings and understandings of
practical political aspects of development and rights based activism and their
funder nexus. I am sharing these briefly and in simple manner avoiding the
larger academic discussion and discourse around the development politics in Pakistan. Click to read on Merinews

Unmasking democracy: Military versus civil
governance inSindh

After a month of the
millions’ march in Karachi for the freedom of
Sindh, the Sindh Assembly for the first time in its history within Pakistan has unanimously
passed a resolution on April 29, 2014 against the Federal Government and the
Federation of Pakistan. The resolution mentioning “accesses done by the Federal
Governments of Pakistan against Sindh” and has quoted that the Federation of
Pakistan is punishing Sindh. Read
article on Merinews

Millions Sindhi Hold Freedom March in Karachi To Demand Independence

People in the Punjab
province celebrated Republic Day in Pakistan
on March 23, with an entirely opposite event 'Sindh Freedom March' held in Karachi. CNN
claimed there were at least "5 million Sindhis" in attendance
while some Sindh-based media quoted a figure of 8 million. The Freedom March
celebrated under the banner of a Jeay Sindh Qomi Mahaz (JSQM), a Sindh freedom
secessionist party, and demanded a separate, independent status for Sindh
province. Read report on Truthout, USA

12 dissenters killed, over 100 detained in Sindh, Pakistan

Islamabad has become political hot spot these days due to
Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri’s ‘Freedom’ and ‘Revolution’ protest marches.
Taking advantage of Pakistani and international media focus on these marches,
the Sindh Police, Pakistan Rangers and intelligence agencies like Inter
Services Intelligence (ISI) and Military Intelligence (MI) have allegly
launched the unannounced military operation in natural resources rich Sindh
province against the secessionist Sindhi nationalist parties. Read
report on CNN iReport

Ten commandments for contemporary world!

Human society needs to
adopt new 'Ten Commandments' for the salvation of human beings, the earth, and
the life over it. The era of red, green, blue, and saffron tinted ideological
states is over. Human society has evolved, throughout the course of its
history, some basic values, and principles on which it has repeatedly tried to
offer humanity the maximum possible equity, justice, prosperity, and peace.Published on Merinews

A-political dictionary of Pakistan

Revolution is diverse but
highly clear and marketable commodity in Pakistan’s political fishy
business, which today means snatching power by either luring garrison city of
‘Rawan-Pindi’ (Ooops! Rawalpindi)
or by winning electoral constituencies by any means. Click to read on Merinews

Sindhi Hindu exodus causing humanitarian red alert
for India

India has become the last destination of Sindhi Hindus
from Pakistan,
where the state-sponsored seminaries have been victimizing them since last two
decades. Over 2000 Hindus have recently refuged in the premises of Delhi; however the rough
estimates suggest their number hascrossed one hundred thousand during last ten
years. Click ton read on CNN

An open letter to Hasina Wajid

We owe you applause, your
Excellency Sheikh Hasina Wajid, for your government's significant steps in
bringing the perpetrators of war crimes in 1971 to justice. This expression of
cheer by a Sindhi in exile is the continuity of an earlier generation of
Sindhis and Balochs who shed blood tears over heart-wrecking brutalities, like
massacres and rapes, rendered by the Pakistan Army in 1971 in Bangladesh. Click to read on The Kathmandu Post, Nepal

Plight of Hindus in Pakistan

13 December, 2013

The pseudo Muslims,
ignorant of the real spirit of Islam, recently exhumed and humiliated the
mortal remains of one Bhuro Bhil, a Dravidian Hindu, in district Badin of Sindh
province. The land, where he was buried, was in fact donated to the residents
by his ancestors. Read on Merinews

Personal reflection: Politics of development and civil society of Pakistan

08 January, 2014

Politics of development
and particularly international development is highly complex structure of
studies; however when it is attempted to understand in a very naïve way, it
becomes easiest for the common understanding. Read on Merinews.com

An open letter to Hasina Wajid

13 January 2014

We owe you applause, your
Excellency Sheikh Hasina Wajid, for your government's significant steps in
bringing the perpetrators of war crimes in 1971 to justice. This expression of
cheer by a Sindhi in exile is the continuity of an earlier generation of
Sindhis and Balochs who shed blood tears over heart-wrecking brutalities, like
massacres and rapes, rendered by the Pakistan Army in 1971 in Bangladesh. The
political, social, and literary leadership of that time in Sindh and
Balochistan in Pakistan
was supporting Banglabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rehman. Hundreds, if not thousands,
took to the streets of Sindh cities and towns against the military operation in
Bangladesh (then East Pakistan). Although, Sindhis and Balochs themselves
are today facing gradual an ethnic cleansing-like situation. Read in The Kathmandu Post

Towards one Southasia

22 December 2013

Pakistani Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif, like ex-president Asif Ali Zardari, has recently tuned up the
good old mantra of a visa-free India-Pakistan. However, the nature of
geopolitical relations between these two countries alone is the major hurdle to
a visa-free regime in the region. Given the fact that visa arrangements and
norms between the rest of the Southasian countries are almost on the verge of
border-free regional entities, it is speculated that a visa-and-border-free
Southasia can only be realised, unlike the European Union, through a gradual
visa-and-border regime change. Read in The Kathmandu Post

Peace beyond Kashmir

13 November 2013

Politics in Pakistan has
some basic state-ideological, political morality and country-hood fault lines
that, in terms of statecraft, are at the helm of almost all internal political
catastrophes as well as regional instabilities.

The technological
inclusion of drones in the global security paradigm as a defensive-offence
mechanism has kicked off a new set of discussions and discourse based on a
broad range of concerns and questions. Especially in the countries that
consider drones a threat to their sovereignty and national security. Besides, drone
operations, particularly in Pakistan
and Yemen,
have also raised the question of their international legality and legitimacy in
the context of nation-state sovereignty. Read in The Kathmandu Post

Does a 2011 Terrorist Episode Foreshadow the
Talibanization of Sindh?

21 November 2013

On November 07, 2011, in
Chak town of district Shikarpur in Sindh, Pakistan, four armed men said to be religious
extremists entered the Otaq (a traditional community gathering place in rural
Sindh) of Dr. Satya Pal and opened fire on several Hindus, Dr. Ajeet Kumar;
Ashoke Kumar (an Income Tax Officer); Naresh Kumar; and Dr. Satya Pal. Naresh
Kumar and Ashok Kumar died on the spot, while Dr. Ajeet breathed his last in
the Civil Hospital of Sukkur city; while Dr. Satya Paul survived, albeit with
severe injuries. He was hospitalized in Agha Khan
University Hospital
in Karachi.
According to the single witness, the attackers fled to the nearby Indus river forests. The issue created fury among
residents of the area as well as across Sindh and caused public
unrest. This is the first reported attack against a religious
minority in Sindh since the partition of India in 1947. Read in Truthout, USA

Afghanistan’s Future Depends on Majority Will,
Pakistan and World Cooperation

The “first world war on Afghanistan” began in 1979 and concluded in
1991, resulting in a decisive defeat of the then-Soviet Union.
If seen in the context of people’s history, almost 2.802 billion people
suffered the direct, indirect and post-direct burns of the Afghan drama in Afghanistan, Pakistan,
Iran, China, Uzbekistan,
Tajikistan, Azerbaijan and India
and later on, post 9/11, in the United States,
UK
and European Union. If the war and war-related expenditure by the international
community in Afghanistan
is roughly calculated, it would probably exceed $10 trillion. Read full article
at Truthout, USA. Read in Truthout, USA

Pakistan
minister’s statement raises concern among civilians

Pakistan would also be
using the drone technology against the uprisings within Pakistan after giving
legal cover to the United States of America (USA) drone strikes in Federally
Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan through signing an agreement with
USA, said Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) State Minister, Khuram Dastagir,
as per the news published in Daily Ibrat Sindhi from Hyderabad. Read on Merinews.com

Suspicious details emerge after three men burned
alive in Pakistan

Numbers can be affecting.
It is shocking indeed to learn through the reports of Amnesty International and
Human Rights Watch that at least 861 persons were disappeared by security
agencies in Pakistan
during 2012; around 325 Shia minority persons were killed on sectarian grounds;
and around 100 were extra-judicially killed by the military officials. These
numbers do not include the thousands who lost their lives in Balochistan and
Sindh in military actions during the past decade. Read in Truthout, USA

Afghan endgame: Is a stable Afghanistan
possible?

The history of global
intervention in Afghanistan
over the past two centuries has been one of colossal failure. However, it’s
still too early to tell whether the presence of international forces there
during the last decade, as well as the recent plan to withdraw these forces by
2014, will ultimately be judged as a success or failure. Read on Russia Direct, Moscow

Russia amid changing perspective of Afghanistan

The changing strategic
realities after the gradual international pullout from Afghanistan will require an
entirely new set of approach for the sustainability of non-extremist governance
and stability of social fabric. Amid, such an unpredictable future of war-game
stage of Central and South Asia, Russia
is one of potential players that can come forward to discuss new matrix of
long-term building of state structure in Afghanistan. This requires an out
of traditional box of security engagement paradigm and demands an integrated
approach for the broader re-coordination of diversified interests. Read on RIAC, Moscow

Endgame Afghanistan

28 July 2013

The largest and most
diverse military movement in the globe after World War II will come to an end
this year in Afghanistan.
Unlike the messy world wars of the last century, the conclusion of this mini
world war against proxy war-making groups promises neither sustained stability
in South Central Asia nor offers a by-product similar to the League of Nations
that emerged after World War I. Amid the well-received news in Afghanistan
regarding the quitting of international forces, Afghans and neighbouring
countries are still uncertain about the Afghan endgame. Read in The Kathmandu Post

No room for dissent in Pakistan

It was an end of the
beginning. Idle to the unforeseen world-shaking incidents like 9/11, Khakis
chose military takeover of Pakistan
in 1999 pushing the country into a non-democratic mode of government.
Eventually, due to gross human rights violations, the anger simmered-up taking
citizenry and lawyers to the streets. Read on Merinews.com

Afghanistan: After
the ISAF Withdrawal

The ISAF withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2014 has once again pushed South-Central Asia, a globally strategic region, towards
a decisive turning point similar to Soviet withdrawal from the war torn country
in 1988. The strategic security of the regional and international interests has
changed the debate, which now unfortunately is more concerned about the
interests of various countries than that of the Afghan people.

Political Economy of Federalism in Pakistan and
Movement for Self-Determination in Sindh

Pakistan is at a crossroads, its federal structure severely
threatened by provincial independence movements fueled by ethnic tensions,
structural political failures and the allocation of tax revenues.. Read in Truthout, USA

Pakistan: A
Personal Perspective on the Upcoming Elections

10 May 2013

Pakistan is in the midst of the most violent and an
anarchic election of its history. The electoral politics in Pakistan has
polarized the internal factions of society and more importantly of the powerful
security establishment. Hundreds have been killed so far in dozens incidents of
violence, mostly taking place during the elections campaign. It is widely
believed that the results of these elections are strategically important to
decide the narrative about the future of Pakistan. Read on The Descrier, UK

The centre cannot hold

01May 2013

Federations around the
world have adapted political systems to the foundations of their
socio-political and cultural realities so that proclamations of identity, the
trickling down of the fruits of governance to the grassroots level and the
unfurling of even patterns of development based on parity become a tangible
reality.

Pakistan is at a crossroads. Its fragmented internal and
external political situation is gradually inching towards chaos. The country is
facing secessionist movements in the Balochistan and Sindh provinces; religious
terrorism in Punjab, the Tribal Areas, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province;
war on its Afghan border; continued discontent with neighbouring India; disagreements with the US; and a distancing from Saudi Arabia.
The key to understanding these current crises is in the understanding of state
building and statecraft. Read on The Descrier, UK

Electoral politics, chemistry of fragmentation and future of Pakistan

5 April 2013

Pakistan will undergo the decisive general elections of its
history in May 2013. The country, which has been facing a decade-long human
catastrophe in the form of religious extremism and war against terrorism,
freedom wars and ethnic as well as sectarian violence, will get direction
through the polls out of the only options of reforms or anarchy. Read on
Merinews.com Part IPart II

Talbanisation of Pakistan and plight of Christians and Ahmadiya
Muslims

Pakistan seems to be on the brink of religious anarchy.
Talbanization of the country has turned Punjab
province into a hell for the Christian and Ahmadiya religious minorities. Does
country intend to adopt the path of harmony? Silence is the only answer, for
now! Read on Merinews.com

Sindh bleeds in the name of democracy

Legislation over the
controversial ordinance from Sindh Assembly has caused furore, leading to mass
movements and protest across the Sindh. Many fear that this may lead to
Baluchistan like situation in the peace-loving Sufi province of Pakistan.
Read on Merinews.com

Political and ethnic battles turn Karachi into
Beirut of South Asia

In Pakistan, powerful ethnic
minorities rule the under-developed majorities. In the context of Sindh,
especially in Karachi,
this ethnic contest of power has turned this historical land into Beirut of
South Asia. Read on Merinews.com

Crimes against humanity in Sindh and Pakistan

Pakistani Foreign Minister
Hina Rabani Khar has presented a rosy human rights report in the periodical
human rights review session of the United Nations in Geneva, which is an attempt to hide underway
crimes against humanity in the country. Read on Merinews.com

Political Economy of Climate Change in Pakistan

Climate change has left a
devastative impact on the Sindh province
of Pakistan, posing
threats to its economic, social and security fabric. The scenario contains
possibilities of worst long-lasting changes in the demography, ethnic security,
life, and livelihood. More than 20 million people have already been displaced
along with the loss of hundreds of billion dollars during the 2010-2011 floods.
This is just a beginning of the climate theatre. Read on Atlantic Community, Germany

Who wants to divide Sindh?

September 2012

Sindh is on the verge of
widespread political violence due to newly announced local government
ordinance. The situation can possibly be disastrous for the future political
course of Pakistan and might
even have disastrous impact on South Asia and
the rest of the world.Read on Merinews.com

Malala asks Pakistan to recreate itself

The attack on Malala has
pushed liberal Pakistan
to re-ascertain its face. However, the important thing to see is whether Pakistan
restructures itself as a liberal moderate democracy. The Taliban attacked Malal
Yousafzai due to her denial of their barbaric codes of self-described and
imposed religious taboos. Unlike on the brutal murder of Salman Taseer, the
people of Pakistan
vociferously denounced this heinous act and stood by her - a good omen for the
country, which is living in misery between devil and the deep sea.Read on Merinews.com

Unmasking democracy: Military versus civil
governance in Sindh

April 2014

After a month of the
millions’ march in Karachi for the freedom of
Sindh, the Sindh Assembly for the first time in its history within Pakistan has
unanimously passed a resolution on April 29, 2014 against the Federal
Government and the Federation of Pakistan. The resolution mentioning “accesses
done by the Federal Governments of Pakistan against Sindh” and has quoted that
the Federation of Pakistan is punishing Sindh. Read on Merinews.com

Changing climate poses threat of major conflicts
within Pakistan

The impact of changing
climate in Pakistan exhibits
symptoms of increase in the number of extremists' sanctuaries, wars between
Sindh and Punjab, mass migrations, rise in
urban violence and vote-bank loss for liberal parties. Read on Merinews.com

Neighbourly advice

Nepal is undergoing a socio-political transformation
amid a highly contested debate around federalism and ethnicity to restructure
statehood, governance and the future. The constitutional blind alley is a
narrow strip between directionless sailing and rudderless anarchy. However, the
forces of integration are stronger enough to ensure a safe voyage.Read in The Kathmandu Post

Can civilians win the war in Pakistan?

30 August 2012

A war is on between the
executive and judiciary in Pakistan.
The exhibition of muscle within the inner core of the state, which earlier toed
Prime Minister Yousaf Reza Gilani out of office, has now knocked at the office
of new Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf.. Read on Asia Times

Roots of Sindhi-Hindu Exodus from Pakistan

25 August 2012

The morning of August 10,
2012 carried news of exodus of Hindus from Pakistan. Immigration authorities
detained 250 families having valid documents and visas at Wagah-Atari border of
India and Pakistan near Lahore. Later on, they were allowed to travel
to India
after signing commitment bonds for returning. More families thereafter have
also left Pakistan for India.Read on CLAWS Website

Changing climate poses threat of major conflicts
within Pakistan

24 August 2012

The impact of changing
climate in Pakistan exhibits
symptoms of increase in the number of extremists’ sanctuaries, wars between
Sindh and Punjab, mass migrations, rise in
urban violence and vote-bank loss for liberal parties.Read on Merinews.com

Whom does Hindu exodus benefit in Pakistan?

20 August 2012

Hindu Exodus has created a
new debate around minority rights in Pakistan. Analyzing factors and
repercussions as well as identifying losers-beneficiaries matrix can lead to
understand the scenario ousting the indigenous community from their land.Read on Merinews.com

Pakistan Divided
over Afghanistan

13 August 2012

Pakistan is undergoing Afghanistan syndrome. The
‘strategic depth’ mantra of the far-right within the manifold of policy makers
in Pakistan
has virtually turned to be a ‘strategic dent’ in the roller costar of the
foreign policy. Read on Outlook Afghanistan

Saving South Asia:
Impacts of Climate Change

22 July 2012

Climate change is likely
to wreak havoc in South Asia and along two climate vulnerable points—Himalaya in the north and a vast coastline in the South.
The foundation of the ‘oneness’ in this ecologically diverse and volatile
region lies in it being an integrated climate entity with the same regional
plateau, shared ecology and interdependent natural resources—mainly rivers.
Besides, from the civilization point of view, the boundaries of the region are
historically bracketed between Gango-Jaumna and Sindhu-Sarsvati civilizations. Read in Daily Republica, Nepal

Southasian renaissance: land issues in Southasia

10 July 2012

Unlike in the rest of the
world, land is the common and most important factor behind modern state
building, political culture, socioeconomic development and transformation,
urbanization and ethnic conflicts in South Asian countries. Read in Daily Republica, Kathmandu, Nepal

Important lessons: federalism in Pakistan

28 June 2012

Federalism in South Asia has many forms. Pakistan,
Sri Lanka and Afghanistan have remained highly volatile
federations in post-colonial South Asia; whereas, India, the largest democracy as
well as one of the largest federations on the globe, has its own dynamics.
Federal practices are being revisited everywhere in the region–reconstruction
in Afghanistan, revisions in Pakistan, restructuring in Sri Lanka,
constitutional process in Nepal, rethinking over Chittagong in Bangladesh and
over Kurdistan and Sistan in Iran.Read in Daily Republica Nepal

Beyond Regionalism: Evolving South
Asia

12 June 2012

Beyond the much touted
culture mantra, it is the political legacy combined by the geo-economic factors
and emerging strategic shifts in the global trends that determines the future
of contemporary South Asia. Political legacy
in terms of state building, statehood and statecraft along with social process
of development vis-à-vis state organism is the key towards understanding this
highly dynamic region. No doubt, despite huge inter- as well as intra-state
disparities from the development point of view, the region offers great
prospects for social and economic leadership in the world. Read in Daily Republica, Nepal

Political Economy of Flood Disaster in Sindh:
Preventing Anarchy

Blog 2010

Natural disasters in the
plain areas turn the social web upside down due to higher quantum and severity,
giving chances to anarchy loom large in the failure states. It could only be
gauged through the socioeconomic damages and magnitude of humanitarian crises.Click to read full

Charting the women’s movement in Sindh

4 July 2010

The contemporary movement
for the rights and liberation of women in Sindh is deeply connected to the
emancipation movement of women during the pre-partition era. In the last
one-and-a-half century, the women rights movement has been shaped by the
influence of political and socio-economic development of Sindh, and it becomes
imperative to analyze the historical patchworks between pre- and post-partition
Sindh history to understand contemporary Sindh. Read in Daily The News

Evading Failure

27 May 2010

A state is said to have
failed if it cannot provide minimum social safeguards, such as peace, order and
security. Other features regarded as indicative of a state’s failure include
its inability to meet the basic needs of the country’s population. The
Pakistani state has undergone three phases of transformation. At the time of
Partition, it was a “migrant state,” which later on transformed into an
“overdeveloped state” and finally turned into a “martial state.” Read in daily The News

Post-NRO Governance

06 January 2010

The transformation of a
state from military dictatorship to democracy can only be achieved through
negotiations or revolution. There is no third way. The latter constructs a new
system on the debris of the old one, while the former evolves the systems as
well as norms of governance. Pakistan’s
recent return to democracy was a ‘negotiated’ transfer. Read in Daily The News

A River Ran through It

Weekly, The Friday Times, Lahore, August 19-25, 2005

Noise erupted in the
still, foggy morning as the captain revved the boat-engine, signalling the
beginning of our voyage to the Indus delta at Ibrahim Hyderi, a coastal town
near Karachi.
After half an hour, the fog had dissipated with the rising sun and we found
ourselves between two tiny islands covered with dense mangrove forests as
numerous eagles hovered in the sky above. The Indus
delta is a fan shaped network of seventeen major and numerous minor creeks covering
about 30,000 square kilometres. It was formed in an arid climate under
conditions of high river discharge – 4 billion tons of sediment per year. It
experiences the highest wave energy of any river in the world; during the
monsoon season, the delta front receives more wave energy in a single day than
the Mississippi
delta receives in the entire year. Read more

Question of Land Reforms in Pakistan

February 2008

The rural society and
agriculture sector of Pakistan
is chained by feudal relationships which has given birth to an evil land-tenure
system with a high degree of land concentration, absentee landlordism,
insecurity of tenure for share-croppers and low agricultural productivity.Read in Daily Dawn

Roots of Nationalism in Sindh

20 March 2010

A politically mature
reaction by the people of Sindh was witnessed after the murder of Ms Benazir
Bhutto. The mobs torched government property, destroyed the means of
communication and banned vehicular traffic in every corner of Sindh. Before
attacking trains, buildings, trucks and trawlers, they provided safe passage to
the security guards, drivers and passengers placed inside. Food and shelter
were provided to the stranded passengers. Read in Daily Dawn

A Lost World!

December 2002

If Nagar is the culture
capital of Tharparkar, Karunjhar is the embodiment of its wisdom and beauty.
“Paraser, a mahatma, whose hymns are part of the Vedas, meditated some
thousands of years ago, near the Teerath spring, up in the caves in the
Karunjhar hills. This is the asthan of Shiva, a Hindu god. He was the father of
Machganda, a female character in Indian mythology, who was born from the womb
of a fish,” says Ali Nawaz Khoso, a living legend of Thar who is well-versed in
Sindhi, Gujrati, Marwari, Kutchi and Hindi folk-wisdom and mysticism. Read in Monthly Newsline

More than Just a War!

6 September 2009

The conquest of Sindh by
the British in 1843 after the days-long battle of the Miayani forests near Hyderabad initiated two
simultaneous processes in Sindh. On the one hand, a process of social
transformation was begun, creating and catering to a new class of landlords;
increased urbanisation nurtured a new-born bourgeoisie and petty-bourgeoisie
class. Read in Daily The News

Sindhi Nationalism through the Kaleidoscope of
History

Thhe history of Sindhi
nationalism is basically a history of resistance movements and wars fought
against foreign invasions across the centuries. Modern Sindhi nationalism,
however, begins with the resistance against the British in the mid-nineteenth
century. The entire movement can be divided into two parts: pre- and
post-Partition. Read in Daily The News

Sindh: A province devastated

The flood that inundated
Sindh beginning in the first week of August left hundreds of villages and
scores of towns in 21 out of the 23 districts of the province flooded. Of
these, 16 districts were completely inundated, and the remaining seven were
affected by breaches and overflow in canals. In the language of disaster response,
almost four million people in the province were rendered ‘vulnerable’, two
million ‘extremely vulnerable’ and 700,000 homeless. It is estimated that
around 10 million people will be affected in Sindh by the time the floodwater
enters the Arabian Sea. Read on HimalSouthasian